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Missy Franklin to appear in a movie scuba diving to help disabled

Olympic champion Missy Franklin is taking scuba lessons to be certified before diving in Bimini next March as part of Kurt Miller's new film, "The Current," which is about disabled individuals learning how to dive. (Special to The Denver Post)

Missy Franklin is famous for the innocent passion she brings to competitive swimming, but there's another kind of swimming that fills her with joy as well.

The teenage star of the London Olympics fell in love with scuba diving on a trip to Hawaii with her family in 2011. Now she is getting certified so she can go to Bimini over spring break and shoot a scene diving with dolphins for Kurt Miller's upcoming movie, "The Current."

"Oh my gosh, I am so, so excited, I cannot wait," Franklin told me recently. "My dad has been scuba diving his whole life. I've always watched him and my uncle go off on these amazing dive trips to all these incredible places, and I've always wanted to do it."

Last year Miller produced a beautiful film about disabled individuals learning to ski called "The Movement." One of the characters was Rick Finkelstein, a Hollywood executive who was paralyzed in a ski accident at Aspen in 2004.

"The Current" picks up where "The Movement" left off, showing Finkelstein and others learning to scuba dive.

Others who will be in film include:

• Bethany Hamilton, the inspiration for the movie "Soul Surfer," the true story of a girl who lost her left arm in a shark attack while surfing and returned to the sport through strong faith. She will be filmed diving with whales in Maui.

Because she is not disabled, Franklin has the title of athlete ambassador for the film and Make a Hero, Miller's non-profit that used "The Movement" and will use "The Current" to help disabled individuals get involved in sports and recreation.

"I think it's such an incredible movie (concept)," Franklin said. "I can't believe we actually get to go to Bimini to film this movie, which I think is just going to be absolutely incredible."

Franklin's first scuba experience in Hawaii closely followed her breakout performance at the 2011 world championships in Shanghai (five medals, three gold) when she was 16.

"When you're in the ocean and you're under water, 60-70 feet deep, everything else just doesn't matter," Franklin said. "Everything else that's going on outside on land, whatever it is, you completely forget it. It's just so cool to have that feeling, just being able to escape from everything for a while, just go down and see God's creation that a lot of people don't get a chance to see how beautiful it is. And just to have that peaceful time to take it all in."

Starting Friday, Franklin and Miller will be on KBCO 97.3 FM for seven consecutive mornings soliciting nominations for deserving disabled individuals who will get to learn how to scuba dive and receive a seven-day trip for two to Cozumel.

"There are so many people with disabilities in my life who inspire me," Franklin said. "There are so many incredible stories of people overcoming odds that are not overcomeable. It's just so cool to meet them and see them and just watch them do so well, watch their success.

"It's so easy to get caught up in the little things in our life that seem so huge. Some of these people don't have legs, or don't have an arm, and they are so happy. They're so confident with what they have, and they're just doing incredible, incredible feats. It's just amazing to watch."

John Meyer: 303-954-1616, jmeyer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jmeyer26